Intrigue of Game Design

I was thinking about this the other day, so I wanted to get it down here. What makes game design / programming different from all other types of software development? Sure, it tends to be more difficult due to the melding of many forms of technologies, different programming/scripting languages, advanced math, physics, the list goes on. But I'm getting at something else entirely.

The thing that intrigues me about game programming is simply this: As the developer, you have the ability to write some code, that when finished, can be able to provide endless fun and entertainment. The whole idea of writing something once, putting it on a disc or into an EXE and sending it out, only to be able to play that game and "create fun" each and every time you play it in new ways is really astounding. The game that really got me thinking about this was of course Grand Theft Auto. Therein lies a game in which all the work has been done, disc printed, shipped, sold. From there, anyone who plays this game can create their own fun, their own experience, and can do so for an unlimited number of years. All of this can be separate from what the makers of the game "intended" you to do, or it can include those elements as well.

Another way to think of this is that someone can create something, and from that something, they can turn it into anything they want. Think about a car. The car maker produces this vehicle to get its customers from place to place safely. The customer can then take that car and choose to do anything they want with it. They can race it, enter it into demolition derbies, enter it in car shows, use it to transport materials, etc... It's a limited example in comparison to Grand Theft Auto, but the same motif of creating a system of some sort, and then being able to jump into that system and envelop yourself in it, creating fun and experiences as you go.

Clearly, not every game is cut out for this type of adaptation, but I believe elements of this are possible in nearly every game. Keep this in mind as you design your game. Ask yourself, "Can the players of my game use elements inside the game to create their own fun/experiences that I didn't explicitly program into the game?"

-Z

Designing A Hockey Power-Play System: Part 2

After thinking about this for a few days, I've got some new thoughts about the whole thing. First off, in my previous post, I made a mistake. I stated that if the same team commits a second penalty prior to the first penalty expiring that we should set the 5 on 3 timer to (duration of the second penalty) - (remaining duration of the first penalty). In fact, each successive penalty situation after the first would be set to the lowest remaining time of all current penalties against that team. Even simpler is the fact that there are only 3 possible penalty levels: 5 on 4, 5 on 3, or 4 on 4. Remember, if a team commits a penalty when they are already at a 5 on 3 disadvantage, they remain at that disadvantage, but they have to sub a player out.

The reason this problem is so tricky is that all of this work is only to provide the heads up display to the user. That is, when you watch hockey on TV, it tells you when it's a 5 on 4, 5 on 3, or 4 on 4. Because of that, we can't simply just pull guys off the ice, each with their own timer, and put them back on when it expires. We have to keep track of the penalty situation (5 on 4, 5 on 3, 4 on 4, etc...) and also provide the user with the proper timing information for how long that particular situation will last.

In the background we'll handle penalties in that simple fashion of giving each player in the penalty box a timer and then when it expires, place him back on the ice. However, the tier system is what will handle the proper heads up display for the user.

That's all for now, I just wanted to write down the areas that I've cleaned up in these past few days. More to come soon.

-Z

Designing A Hockey Power-Play System

In hockey (using NHL as my reference here), there is something called a "power-play", or alternatively referred to as a "man advantage". In hockey each team has 5 players on the ice at 1 time: 3 forwards, 2 defense men, and 1 goalie. Teams are allowed to pull their goalie out and add an extra skilled player (usually a forward) in order to increase their chances of scoring, but that's not important here. When a team commits a penalty (more accurately, when a player commits a penalty), that player must sit in the penalty box for a duration of time, either 2, 4, 5, or 10 minutes (depending on severity). During this time, the opposing team is said to have a "power-play" and a 5 man to 4 man advantage. Naturally, if the team on a power-play commits a penalty while they have a man-advantage, they will lose that player to the penalty box, and the teams will be in a 4 on 4 situation.

Additionally, if a team commits another penalty while they are already at a disadvantage, they can be reduced another man, and then they are on a 5 man to 3 man disadvantage. In the event a third penalty is committed by the same team prior to any of the previous two offenders being released from the box, that player will be substituted out of the game for a backup, and he too will go to the penalty box. Teams must always have at least 3 men on the ice, and no more than 3 in the penalty box. To make things even more troubling to deal with, power-plays carry over between periods. That is to say, if there is 1:30 left in the 2nd period and a team commits a 2:00 penalty, then that player will have to remain in the penalty box for the first :30 of the 3rd period.

So, what does this have to do with game programming? Quite a lot if you're making a hockey game! So, what are we left with? A very complex problem that needs solving! Being a huge hockey fan and clearly a game developer, I wanted to see what I could come up with solve this tricky issue. Sure, it's been done before, but not by me, so what good does that do me?

My rough general overview of how to deal with this goes something like this:

• When a penalty occurs, remove the player from the ice and start a timer for the appropriate duration
• If another penalty occurs by the same team during that time, we'll need to save the time remaining in the first power play. Then, set the 5 on 3 timer to the Remaining Duration Of The 1st Penalty
• When the 5 on 3 timer expires, set the 5 on 4 timer to the remaining duration of the 1st penalty that we saved earlier.
• When the 5 on 4 timer expires, place the offender of the 2nd penalty back on the ice and return as normal

Now, as you have probably already noticed, this is only accounting for that particular situation, when in fact any number of terrible combinations could happen, most of which involve the team on the power-play committing a penalty, or some awful back and forth situation of which I don't even want to think about...

Anyhow, the way I'm working on tackling this is by using a tier system. The way it would work is that you could easily move up/down the penalty tier, sort of like Linux runlevels. For instance, if the teams are at equal strength and then team 1 commits a penalty, you move that team to penalty tier 1, which is a 4 on 5 disadvantage. If they commit yet another penalty, you move them to penalty tier 2, which is a 3 on 5 disadvantage. You handle the timers the same way as stated above, as all of that behavior would be encapsulated in the tier system. Then, when the first penalty expires, you move team 1 down from penalty tier 2 to penalty tier 1 (4 on 5 disadvantage), and etc...

If designed properly, any sort of flip-flopping with the team on the power-play committing a penalty should just work because the system would simply adjust the penalty tier of both teams, or something similar.

The details aren't clear yet as I'm just starting this, but I'll update this with what I've come up with as time goes on, but I'm very excited to find a decent solution!